Felix Salm-Salm

Felix Salm-Salm (25 December 1828-18 August 1870) was a Prussian military officer, nobleman, and mercenary who served in the armies of Prussia, the Austrian Empire, the United States, and Mexico during the First Schleswig War, the Second Italian War of Independence, the American Civil War, the Franco-Mexican War, and the Franco-Prussian War. He was killed at the Battle of Gravelotte in 1870.

Biography
Felix Salm-Salm was born in Anholt, Westphalia, Prussia on 25 December 1828, and he entered the Prussian Army in 1846 as a hussar. He demonstrated bravery in battle during the First Schleswig War, but he later deserted the Prussian Army and joined the Austrian army, serving in the Second Italian War of Independence. In 1861, he came to the United States and was made a colonel on Brigadier-General Louis Blenker's staff during the American Civil War. Salm-Salm commanded the 8th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment and then the 68th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, serving in Tennessee and Georgia and fighting at the Battle of Nashville. In April 1865, he was promoted to Brigadier-General, but he left the USA after the Civil War and headed to Mexico. He became Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico's aide-de-camp, and he was captured at Queretaro after bravely leading a hussar charge in an attempt to save the Emperor from Benito Juarez's republican army. He was sentenced to death by firing squad, but he was pardoned in December 1867. Soon after, he re-entered the Prussian army, and he was killed at the Battle of Gravelotte on 18 August 1870 at the age of 41.